What You Missed: April 2013 Membership Meeting and Volunteer Appreciation Ceremony

Members gathered on Saturday, April 13, 2013, for a special celebration of volunteerism and creativity. Volunteer Coordinator Linda Okazaki and Membership Coordinator Diana Edwards unveiled a new meeting format and started a new tradition to honor long-standing volunteers. It was a success by every measure.

Linda Okazaki and Diana Edwards added festive touches.

Most of the members in attendance arrived early at 12:00 p.m. with lunch in hand to share company and lively conversation in the Sherman Room. Beverages were provided by the board of directors.

Members shared lunch and lively conversation.

After the celebratory cake was cut and dessert finished, the festivities moved to the classroom for the program and a few words of welcome by President Jeff Vaillant. Director Tom Gesner updated members on several changes in the library, including new computers, shelving, and display racks. Tom also announced three special events planned for the fall.

Pat Bonderud accepting her "Certificate of Recognition" from President Jeff Vaillant.

Next up was the volunteer recognition part of the program. Linda Okazaki gave some statistics, "Of our more than 1000 members, 170 have contributed their time in some way to the society. Ninety-three current members are scheduled to work in 2013 and fourteen new volunteers have joined our team since January."

Honorees Marston Watson (representing his wife, Kathy), Gloria Hanson, Pat Bonderud, Barbara Hill, and Dick Rees. Honorees not in attendance: Lois Elling, Ken Haughton, Lorna Jones.

Eight individuals who have held membership for more than two decades and who continue to serve the California Genealogical Society as active volunteers were presented with certificates of recognition.

• Kathy Watson, a member for twenty years since 1993, has held a variety of roles and currently serves as chair of both the Computer and Technology Committees. Kathy was unable to attend so her husband Marston, a past board member, accepted on her behalf.
• Lois Elling, also a member for twenty years since 1993, creates every layout of the California Nugget and has designed the society's bookmarks, business cards, and branding graphics.
• Gloria Hanson, a member for twenty-one years since 1992, has held a variety of positions including Desk Duty. Gloria is well known in the society for her extensive knowledge of Norwegian genealogy. She currently volunteers in the library as a copy cataloger.
• Pat Bonderud, a member for twenty-three years since 1989, helped with the architectural design of the media room and layout of the library. Pat partners with Linda Darby as Special Projects Co-chair. The two have organized the manuscript collection and vertical files.
• Lorna Jones, a member for twenty-nine years since 1984, has worked in a variety of positions in the library. For several years she led the French-Canadian Special Interest Group.
• Barbara Hill, a member for thirty-two years since 1981, volunteers on the Library Committee and handles library acquisitions. Barbara performs monthly desk duty on Saturdays.
• Dick Rees, a member for thirty-three years since 1980, has worn many hats for the society. These days he does special project work, teaches some introductory genealogy classes, and serves on the Book Repair Committee. 
• Kenneth Haughton, a member for thirty-five years since 1978, is our member of longest standing who continues to actively serve the society. Ken served on the board of directors and was CFO for many years. He is currently an advisor to the Investment Committee.

Diana Edwards introduced the last part of the program: Preserving Your Genealogical Work Through Publishing. Displayed around the room were charts, books, articles, and other materials created by members – wonderful family treasures that will be cherished by family members for years to come.

Tim Cox served as master of ceremonies and guide as he went around the room and introduced each item on display. Tim introduced the authors/creators and described their work.

After the program members were able to browse and examine the displayed items more closely. Past-president Steve Harris gave tours of his city directory library.

Linda Okazaki proclaimed the day "a smashing success."


Photographs courtesy of Ron Madson. More of Ron's photos from the day are posted at Wordless Wednesday.

Copyright © 2013 by Kathryn M. Doyle, California Genealogical Society and Library.

Wordless Wednesday

Book Repair Committee
California Genealogical Society Library

Photograph by Kathryn Doyle, Oakland, California, 8/14/2012.

Copyright © 2013 by Kathryn M. Doyle, California Genealogical Society and Library.

Update From the French-Canadian Special Interest Group

One of the upcoming summer Thursday night discussions will be devoted to all thing French-Canadian.

On Thursday, July 22, 2010, Mary Beth Frederick will facilitate a discussion about French-Canadian research resources. She will be available to provide help for non-French-speakers about commonly used words and to converse about the format of French-Canadian birth, marriage and death records. Attendees are encouraged to bring their problem documents.

The session will be held from 6:30 p.m. - 8:15 p.m. at the CGS library. Participants of all levels of research experience are welcome to network and join the conversation.

SIG organizer Lorna Jones sent word that future meetings of the French-Canadian group are planned for Saturday mornings: October 9, 2010 and January 8, 2011.


Copyright © 2010 by Kathryn M. Doyle, California Genealogical Society and Library

Annual Report 2010: French Canadian Special Interest Group

Lorna Jones provided a copy of Annual Report 2010 for the French Canadian Special Interest Group that includes a comprehensive history of their meetings and members. The SIG formed five years ago and held its first meeting on Wednesday, May 25, 2005. Subsequent meetings were held on Wednesdays 5-6 times per year until 2008 when meeting days were changed to Saturday to accommodate members who worked during the week.

Bill O'Neil, Mary Beth Frederick, Lorna Jones and Jane Lindsey

By January 2006, the group consisted of ten members: Carol Backhus, Anne Cyr, the Freemans, Lorna Jones, Wayne Knauf, Jane Lindsey, David Lowndes, Bill O'Neil, Al Riel and Lynn Theuriet. Since that time some of the original ten have moved away but new members include: Mary Beth Frederick, Tom Gesner, Gary Reopelle, Barry Goyette, Craig Siulinski, Christine Morton, Gary Darnsteadt, John Lee and Gibran Rath.

The group now has a total of sixteen members who come when they can to the three scheduled meetings each year. They try to meet in the morning on second Saturdays so they can stay for the membership meeting in the afternoon at 1:00 p.m.

French-Canadian SIG Coordinator Lorna E. Jones

Lorna reports:

The meetings usually are unstructured – someone comes with a 'brick wall' question and we all dive in and work on it. We frequently have 'show and tell' where we share new websites, or a book someone has found, or some new French translation list.  It's all very low-key, but entertaining, and the folks who attend are great.

Do you have ancestors who may have moved to the mid-west in the early 1800s? Or perhaps some who were born in Canada, but the exact location is unknown? The American-Canadian border was easily crossed; many others came up the Mississippi via New Orleans to settle before the railways were built.

The French-Canadian Special Interest Group meets to discuss research problems. It is a small group so there is plenty of opportunity for each issue to be debated thoroughly. Help for French translation is available, as well as lots of ideas about where to search, both on the web and in books.

Email Lorna Jones if you would like to receive notice of upcoming meetings.

The next meeting of the French-Canadian Special Interest Group is at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, April 10, 2010.


Photographs courtesy of Jane Knowles Lindsey.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday
French-Canadian Special Interest Group
Mary Beth Frederick, Tom Gesner, Lorna Jones and Bill O'Neil
May 9, 2009

Photograph courtesy of Tim Cox, Oakland, California.

French Canadian Interest Group

CGS members with an interest in French Canadian ancestry meet occasionally during the year to discuss research problems. Lorna Jones sent this announcement with the dates of the upcoming French-Canadian Interest Group meetings for 2009:

French-Canadian Interest Group members: (left to right) Mary Beth
Frederick, Al Riel, Lorna Jones, Bill O'Neil and Barry Goyette.
(Not shown: Jane Lindsey, Tom Gesner, Lynn Theuriet, & Ann Cyr.)

Do you have ancestors who may have moved to the mid-west in the early 1800s? Or perhaps some who were born in Canada, but the exact location is unknown? The American-Canadian border was easily crossed; many others came up the Mississippi via New Orleans to settle before the railways were built.

This year the French-Canadian Interest Group will meet at the CGS Library at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, May 9, 2009 and again on Saturday, September 12, 2009. The meetings are casual and unstructured – someone usually comes with a “brick wall” question and we all dive in and work on it. We frequently have “show and tell” where we share new websites, or a good book someone has found, or some new French translation list. We're a very low-key but entertaining group and the folks who attend are great.

If you would like to join us, please e-mail Lorna Jones to receive a reminder prior to the meetings.

Photograph courtesy of Jane Knowles Lindsey.

Fort Wayne in August

President Jane Lindsey led a third CGS sponsored research trip to the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana, August 19-26, 2007. This year's trip was especially well timed to follow the FGS Conference which was held August 15-18. And while many attendees (Dick Eastman estimated the total to be about 1500) raced to the library to try and cram in some research time before, between and after conference sessions, we from CGS were smugly relaxed with the knowledge that we would be there for a whole week after the crowds had left. (Okay, so actually we did sneak in occasionally - the temptation was just too great and they opened the library at 6:00 am!)

The conference was my first and was as fun, informative and exhausting as I had expected. One of the high points was hearing Christopher Haley, nephew of "Roots" author Alex Haley and Research Administrator of the Study of the Legacy of Slavery in Maryland at the Maryland State Archives.


Even better was Chris's interview of our prez for Roots Television in the Exhibit Hall. Jane used the forum to tell viewers about some of the exciting changes we have made this year, including our long-anticipated online catalog.


Hmmm - it's daylight and we're not in the library. It must be Sunday - the library was closed but it was not a day of rest for us. Here we are in the dining room of the LaSalle Bed & Breakfast gearing up for our week of research.

This was the first CGS trip to the Allen County Public Library since the renovation project was completed. The library is a gem from its space-age pods where the littlest readers can curl up with a picture book to the state-of-the-art televison studio available to Allen County residents at no charge. Of course we only saw these things on the tour since we would go straight to the 2nd floor to the genealogy department and stay til closing with only a short break for lunch.

Jim Robinson is a CGS member and serves as 1st Vice-President of the Marin County Genealogical Society. His parents and grandparents were Indiana natives so his roots are deep there and he was able have Sunday dinner with ten ROBINSON third cousins.


One very special treat was a private lecture by Curt Witcher on "Fingerprinting Our Families: Using Ancestral Origins/Ethnicity As a Genealogical Research Key." Curt is the Manager of the ACPL Genealogy Department and author of the GenealogyGems Mailing List. He provided a comprehensive hand-out with reference suggestions for context which can be just the thing to help us over our brick walls. Jane arranged the talk for us which is typical of the kind of scrupulous attention she pays to the details on these research trips.

Here we all are on the last night - Jane always organizes a closing dinner so we can celebrate our finds. Starting at front left (around the table) are Sandy, Carol, Jane, Kathryn, Lorna, Lavinia, Gail, Jim and Pat. Thank you, Jane for another successful research trip.

Photographs courtesy of Jane Lindsey.